This essay compares and critically evaluates two theories that focus specifically on sexual crimes against children. Finkelhor's (1984) preconditions model integrates four underlying factors that could explain the occurrence of child sexual abuse and classifies them into four preconditions: motivation to offend, overcoming internal inhibitors, overcoming external inhibitors, and overcoming the child's resistance to offending. they occur in a temporal sequence in which each is necessary for the other to develop. The precondition model provides a framework for assessing child molesters, but is criticized for lacking etiological explanations and paying little attention to cognitive factors. Ward's (2003) Pathways model suggests that the clinical phenomena evident among child sex offenders are generated by four distinct and interacting mechanisms: deficits in intimacy and social skills, distorted sexual scripts, emotional dysregulation, and cognitive distortions in which each mechanism generates a specific crime path. Both theories have been influential in providing treatment goals and informing the clinical evaluation of child sexual abusers. Finkelhor's (1984) preconditions model is widely recognized in the literature as an innovative theory in that it represents the first attempt to incorporate multifactorial factors. explanations to justify sexual crimes against children (Howell, 1994; Marshal, 1996; Ward & Hudson, 1998). Finkelhor (1984) argues that child molestation is a complex phenomenon caused by a variety of psychological, sociological, and cultural factors. To explain the differences between the offenders and the situational aspects of the crime, Finkelhor (1984) proposes four preconditions that must be satisfied in... half of the paper... y of multiple dysfunctional mechanisms, or “pure” pedophiles – those with a primary sexual interest in children, consisting of individuals who portray elements of all the pathways discussed above: deviant sexual scripts; distorted ideas about children's sexuality; intimacy deficit and; dysfunctional emotional regulation. Ward and Siegert (2002) argue that their attempt to build on existing theoretical work such as Finkelhor's (1984) preconditions model, the Pathway model constitutes a multifactorial theory evident in the fact that it addresses psychological, contextual and biological mechanisms in its claim that vulnerability to sexually offend a child originates from various learning, cultural and psychological variables. Both of the above-mentioned models have some clinical utility and can be used in the evaluation and treatment of child molesters.